Entries tagged as bush

Sunday, September 10. 2006

So, I just heard that Rumsfeld called critics of the Bush administration "morally or intellectually confused". I got to hear a little snippet of the speech, too.

I must be the worst person in America. I criticize the Bush administration constantly. Actually, I criticize anyone in power constantly. According to Rumsfeld, this makes me a Nazi. Someone here is morally and intellectually confused. But it's not me.

Morally: Correct me if I'm wrong (there's a nice little comment form on every article here, after all): this administration has consistently identified itself as Christian and appealed to Christian values. Isn't that the religion with a commandment, "Thou shalt not kill?" I don't remember any qualifications, but perhaps it's morally OK if it's for revenge, or to teach someone a lesson.

Intellectually: When we started bombing Iraq, it was because they had Weapons of Mass Destruction. We never found any, so then we changed the reason to "Sadaam was a bad man." When I change my reasoning to support the situation, it's intellectually dishonest; I'll allow "confused" as close enough.

This is all very Orwellian. How did criticism become "unpatriotic?" How does wanting to verify that my leaders are doing the right thing make me a Nazi? If I'm confused, that kind of language manipulation and ad hominem attack is why.